In air conditioners with vertical blower arrangement, the blower rotor is usually arranged above the blower motor. This arrangement at the same time requires an arrangement of the air inlet housing with the fresh air and ambient air flaps above the blower. Moreover, in individual cases, a filter is arranged additionally between the blower and the inlet housing. This results in a considerable installation height. In such an arrangement, the ambient air opening generally points backward and the fresh air opening forward.
The disadvantage of the prior art is not only the installation height, but also the volume required in the vehicle longitudinal direction, particularly if the front wall opening for the fresh air feed is arranged at the height of the blower. In that case, a fresh air duct as well as a flap system for guiding the fresh air flow has to be arranged. As a result, the space requirement is high in the upper front area of the vehicle. In many cases, the required space is not available due to the windshield frame.
Another disadvantage is the backward pointing ambient air opening, which points toward the interior. This arrangement allows a direct sound path from the blower to the passengers, which is disadvantageous for the acoustics. In addition, the conventional arrangements have different directions of inflow of the blower. In the “fresh air” position, the direction of inflow of the blower is more from the front, and in the ambient air position more from the rear. This results in effects on the output or efficiency and on the acoustics. An additional disadvantage of the above-mentioned arrangement is that, in the case of a compact construction, two ambient air flaps are required to be able to carry out the required adjustments.
The problem of the invention is to provide a compact, space-saving blower air suction device, which can be arranged in flat installation spaces, directly on the windshield frame. The problem also includes achieving an efficient air flow into the blower, and improved acoustics, that is, lower noise and vibration exposure values in the ambient air operation.